Conflicts of interest in Government and public administration has been described as “the placing of private interest ahead of public duty.” It usually involves gifts, material gain or advantage for the elected or appointed public servant or members of their family.

Positive Action Group (P A G) wholeheartedly agrees with the opening remarks of the Chief Minister in the Introduction (1.1) to the consultative document, in saying;"There is a need for the Isle of Man Government to demonstrate publicly that it requires public bodies to be open to independent scrutiny of the their administrative processes and decisions....."

P A G supports the introduction of an independent Tynwald Commissioner for Admisitration (TCA) but questions the logic of linking the proposed legislation with that of the Tynwald Auditor General Bill, believing that such a link ought to be made with the so far unfulfilled promise to introduce an Access to Information Bill as both relate to listed authorities interaction with the public.

That's because only residents of the Isle of Man will have a statutory right to access information held by public authorities. And then locals may only be allowed the information if to was created after the 11th October 2011.

1. Positive Action Group (P A G) is an IOM political lobby group which has been campaigning, since its formation in 2006, for a Freedom of Information Act. We contributed to the Preliminary Public Consultation in February 2007

2. The current ‘Code of Access to Government Information’ is inadequate and we welcome this move to replace it. In the last 2 years P A G has made 2 innocuous requests to government under the Code. Both were refused. Following complaint the information was released on the recommendation of the Commissioner. In both cases there was nothing in the information that was prejudicial to government. We believe that this Bill will shift the culture of government to be be more accepting of the “right to know” by the public.

3. Comment has been made on 25 of the 73 clauses in the Bill by direct reference to the draft legislation rather than the summary of the provisions given the consultation document.

4. When considered appropriate reference is made to the UK FOI Act upon which this Draft Bill is modelled.